Calcutta: The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Sourav Ganguly, on Wednesday, backed Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary.

Manoj had met joint-secretary Avishek Dalmiya on Tuesday, wanting to relinquish captaincy.

"He is CAB's captain. There are no second thoughts on that," Sourav said.

Manoj did not find his name in any of the teams announced on Monday by the national selection committee. While Abhimanyu Easwaran is in the India A squad, Writtick Chatterjee, Sudip Chatterjee, Ashok Dinda, Ishan Porel and Abhishek Raman are in Duleep Trophy squads.

"Six from Bengal have been selected. What else do you want? Eleven play in Ranji Trophy... You can't expect all of them to be selected. Manoj will get his chance," he said. Sourav had a meeting with coach Sairaj Bahutule earlier in the evening. Bahutule was also of the view that Manoj is indispensable.

"I haven't spoken to Manoj on the issue... Would be meeting him in one or two days... He is a good leader, fantastic team guy and motivates all the youngsters. He has years of experience. It's very important that he continues," Bahutule said.

Bahutule added that there are enough back-ups to take over the leadership. "We have Ashok Dinda, Wriddhiman Saha, then youngsters like Sudip Chatterjee and Abhimanyu Easwaran... Yes, there are back-ups.

"But then we need Manoj. He has to be there," the coach commented. On Manoj not being considered by the national selectors, Bahutule said: "That's very unfortunate. He did get runs in the one-dayers (Vijay Hazare Trophy)...

"Could have been in one of the squads. But then it's the national selectors who are deciding." A Bengal probables list will be announced on Thursday, while Bahutule is scheduled to meet the newly formed senior Bengal selection committee.

"Ideally, I would want 25 players. It could be 30 also. Let's see... Selectors' views also should be taken into account."